The story of Netflix’s rise and Blockbuster’s subsequent bankruptcy is nothing new, but a recent infographic gives us a visual perspective on the chain of events that have shifted an entire sector of the entertainment industry. Starting with some present day stats, Netflix’s North American subscriber base exceeds the 20 million mark – about the size of the entire Australian population. Netflix comes in second behind Comcast, and supports devices throughout the entire personal cloud spectrum, from TiVo to the iPhone.

Netflix streaming represents over 20% of downstream internet traffic during peak times 8-10 PM (which exceeds YouTube and iTunes combined), but it required years for the video giant to get to where it is now.  Three years after Blockbuster declined several offers to acquire Netflix for a mere $50 million back in 2000, the company’s revenues began to decline, while Netflix’s steadily grew. Over the course of 6 years, Blockbuster’s gone down from $6 billion to an ironic $0. In the same period though, Netflix’s revenues rose from less than $1 billion to $2.2 billion in 2010; a journey which also included an acquisition of Starz’ entire content library for $30 in ’08. Today, this deal would be worth more than 8 times as much.

While this infographic is a historical study in business practice, we’re never without ongoing developments that amount to industry milestones. Netflix may not have Blockbuster to worry about, but other contenders are hot on the trail.  Amazon recently updated its Amazon Prime program to include an unlimited streaming movie service, which holds a database of 5,000 titles. Redbox plans on a similar strategy, according to company President Mitch Lowe. However, carrying this out may prove to be a little more difficult after a recent announcement from CBS, who now has a non-exclusive two-year contract with Netflix. This means Netflix subscribers now have access to CBS’s most popular shows, and with no additional charge. These include Medium and Flashpoint, as well classics like Star Trek.


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